Four years before Gotthard Graubner made the present work, he created the two massive “Color Space Bodies” from the series “Begegnungen” (Encounters) for Bellevue Palace, the official residence of the German president, in Berlin. The violet and yellow works still adorn the two ends of the Great Hall, flooding the space with their intense colors. While Graubner initially covered his early cushion paintings with fine nylon fabric, he increasingly used solid canvas, which he lined with padding, for his later, larger-format “Color Space Bodies,” such as in our vibrant work. He usually applied the paint with broom-like brushes onto the image carrier on the floor, creating a cloudy depth of color. To enhance the complexity and depth of individual color values—such as the nuanced, concentrated green in our outstanding work—to create a “Color Space Body” with an oscillating effect and unique aesthetic presence, numerous drying processes, and exceptional compositional sensitivity, which are decisive characteristics of Graubner's paintings, are necessary. He covered cushions with Perlon fabric in the early 1960s to enhance the spatial effect.



Graubner soaked and painted the fabric cushions with several layers of diluted acrylic paint, creating a pulsating, breathing density that engulfs the viewer in a space of color. In 1970, Graubner finally replaced the older titles “Farbleib” (Color Body) and “Kissenbild” (Cushion Picture) with the term “Farbraumkörper” (Color Space Body). These impressive, picturesque creations were first exhibited at the renowned Düsseldorf gallery of Alfred Schmela, who was also one of the first to showcase the young “ZERO” artists in the 1960s and presented Gerhard Richter's first solo exhibition in 1964. In 1968, Graubner was represented at the documenta in Kassel with his early “Kissenbilder" (Cushion Painting). In 1969, he was appointed professor at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg.
Since the 1980s, Graubner has achieved maximum dissolution of color effects in his large “Color Space Bodies,” of which the present work is a compelling example. Graubner's “Color Space Bodies” are considered the key group in his oeuvre due to the innovative aesthetics of his three-dimensional painting.